Device for preventing fraudulent reuse of bottles



(No Model.)

J. SCHUMACHER.

DEVICE POR PREVENTING PRAUDULENT RBUSE 0F BOTTLES.

No. 581,435. PatentedApr. 27, 1897.

ffy. v l* l ,I' `4 /55 700 700 a R" l 23g 500 i, al i 200 ATENT Finca JOHN SCIIUMACI-IER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DEVICE FOR PREVENTING FRAUDULENT REUSE OF BOTTLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 581,435, dated April 27, 1897.

Application filed June Il, 1896.

To all whom it may concer/t:

Be it known that I, JOHN SCHUMAGHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Preventing the Fraudulent Reuse of Bottles or Similar Receptacles, of which the following is a specilication.

The object of the present invention is to provide a device of such construction that it will either positively prevent or effectually discourage the reuse of a bottle or similar receptacle after a quantity of liquid equal to the full capacity of the receptacle has been discharged from it. In order to accomplish this object, I have invented and produced a device of such construction that upon the happening of a definitive fact it will establish a condition which will either positively prevent liquid from being discharged from the receptacle or will in some other way effectually discourage its reuse. The device includes a time mechanism, which is arranged to operate a definite length of time, and a device upon which the time mechanism is adapted to operate. In an application of even date herewith, Serial No. 595,140, I have shown, described, and generically claimed several species belonging to this genus, and the purpose of this application is to cover and protect the details in the construction of one of said species and of other devices to which it in turn is the genus.

This being a subordinate application it is not necessary to herein set forth at length the broad principles upon which the generic invention is founded; nor is it necessary to show and describe the various forms of the device upon which the time mechanism is adapted to operate in accomplishing the object of the invention, these devices being fully set forth in the application already referred to.

In the present application I have shown the time mechanism as being adapted to operate upon a valve, but I desire to have it understood that this is merely illustrative and that in this respect the invention is of the full scope definedin the application aforesaid.

The invention consists in the features of novelty that are particularly pointed out in the claims hereinafter, and in order that it Serial No. 595,143. (No model.)

may be fully understood I will describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part of this Specification, and in which- Figure l is a vertical section of the neck of a bottle and of a device embodying the invention in place therein, the parts being shown by full lines in their initial positions and by dotted lines in the positions that they occupy after the device is fired, the plane of the section being indicated by the line l l, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a vertical section thereof on the line 2 2, Fig. l. Figs. 3 and 4 are horizontal sections thereof on the lines 3 3 and I 4, respectively, Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

O0 represents a ring fitting within the neck I of the bottle and provided on its exterior with a groove in which fits a spring-ring 300, which is preferably of semicircular shape and has at its ends lateral projections, which occupy a groove or depression 200, formed in the interior of the neck of the bottle, near its mouth. Above the ring and preferably integral with it is a disk 7 X, which serves as a baffle for preventing the insertion through the opening of the ring of a wire or other device for interfering with the operation of the mechanism hereinafter described.

321 represents a hollow shell or iioat the ends of which carry or serve as valves 32 32h, and 60 and 6l are two valve-seats between which it is adapted to oscillate, being guided in its movement bya fixed stem which is made up of a tube 63 and a rod 64, fitting within it and having a shoulder 65, which bears against the end of the tube and prevents the rod from being withdrawn. The shell is hollow and is made of such material that it is buoyant and will ioat even With its contained parts. Preferably it is made of a piece of cork, hollowed out from one end and y closed by means of a plug 66.

lVithin the shell 321 is permanently secured a metal lining 67, through the top of which are two openings, located diametrically opposite each other, through which pass two springarms 68, both of which are formed of a single piece of wire having its central portion 69 bent lso as to pass the tube 63. These springarms are so constructed that they have a constant tendency to approach each other and assume positions indicated by dotted lines in Fig. l, but normally they are held apart and in the positions shown by full lines bymeans of a shaft 70, one end of which has a pivotal bearing in one of the arms G8 and the other end of which is provided with a drill-point that bears against a thin diaphragm 7l, arranged in an eye in the other arm (5S. This diaphragm may be made of mica, eelluloid, sheet metal, or any other suitable material, and is intended to resist the approach of the arms until it is punctured by the drill-point of the shaft 70, whereupon the arms will assume the positions indicated by dotted lines. This disengages shoulders 7l on the arms from a follower 72, against which bears one end of a spring 271, the other end of which bears against the hollow shell. When this disengagement takes place, the spring 271 expands, bringing the follower '72 into contact with a shoulder 73, formed on the stem (il, and the expansion of the spring being thus resisted in one direction its expansion in the other direction will force the valve 32" against the seat Gl, as indicated by dotted lines, and there permanently hold it.

The mechanism for puncturing the diaphragm consists of a crankarm 7st, carried by the shaft 70, and a link 75, pivotally connected at one end to said crank-arm and at the other end to the lower end of the stem (il. The stem being stationary, it follows that a toand-fro movement of the valve from the position shown by full lines to that indicated by dotted lines, and vice versa, will cause a partial rotation of the shaft 70, and this partial rotation repeated a sufficient number of times will cause the drill to puncture the diaphragm. "While the liquid is flowing through the neck of the receptacle in either direction the float 821 will keep up this to-and-fro movement between the seats G0 and (il, the movement in one direction being due to the weight of the float and the superposed liquid and in the other direction to the buoyancy of the float. Assuming the parts to be in the positions shown byfull lines, if the receptacle be inverted the weight of the float and its contained parts and of the superposed liquid will force the valve 32" to its seat 6l, as indicated by dotted lines, and all that part of the neck of the receptacle which is then above the seat (5l will ll with liquid. Vrlhen this takes place, the buoyancy of the fioat, aided by atmospheric pressure, will move the valve 32h from the seat 6l and move the valve 32m to the seat 60, as shown by full lines, whereupon the liquid between the two seats will escape and the iloat will again be moved to the dotted position, as already described. These movements will be repeated so long as the liquid is flowing through the neck of the receptacle in either direction. It is possible to ascertain with su ffieient exactn ess for practical purposes how many of these movements will be imparted to the float by the passage of a given quantity of liquid either into or out of the receptacle, and it is also possible to so construct the working parts of the device that the diaphragm will be punctured by about the number of movements of the drill that are thus imparted to it by the movement of the float. It therefore follows that the device may be so constructed that it will close the receptacle in about the same length of time as a quantity of liquid equal to the full capacity of the receptacle consumes in passing.

Since the device operates while the liquid is flowing either into or out of the receptacle, considerable latitude may be allowed in order to insure that the receptacle will be completely emptied before the device fires. For example, let it be supposed that in emptying the receptacle seventy-five to-and-fro movements of the fioat will be produced and that the diaphragm and drill are such that one hundred movements are required to puncture the diaphragm. Under these conditions the complete emptying of the receptacle will not cause the device to fire, but if it be attempted to refill the receptacle the operation ol' the device will be resumed and the remaining twenty-five movements required for punctu ring the diaphragm will be produced by the introduction of a quantity of liquid equal to one-quarter of the full capacity of the receptacle, whereupon the device will fire and thereby imprison. the liquid that was so intro duced or destroy its commercial value, as described in the application aforesaid. Itis true that under these conditions a quantity of liquid equal to one-eighth of the full capacity of the receptacle might be introduced and again discharged before the device fires, but the extent of the fraud which it is possible to thus perpetrate is so slight that it would not amount to a very serious objection to the efficiency of the device.

ln this form of the invention the force for operating the time mechanism is derived (in part, at least) from the liquid as it flows through the neck of the receptacle, and this is one of the novel features which it is the purpose of this application to cover and protect.

In some forms of the invention7 as shown in my application aforesaid, the time mech-v anism is so constructed thatitoperates while, and only while, the conditions are such as will permit liquid to iiow out of the receptaele, and will so operate whether any liquid is actually flowing out or not, but in the form of the invention herein shown and described the construction of the time mechanism is such that it will not operate unless liquid is actually flowing past it, and will operate whether the liquid is flowing either into or out of the receptacle.

A further purpose of this application is to cover and protect a time mechanism of such construction that it will operate while liquid is being introduced into the receptacle, regardless of what takes place while the liquid IOO IIO

is being discharged, since it is manifest that the object of the invention will be accomplished as well by a time mechanism which is arranged to operate for the definite length of time required for lillin g the receptacle as by a time mechanism which isarranged to operate for the definite length of time required for emptying it.

The term escapement as used in this specification is intended to mean a device or mechanism by which the force of a spring is .conined or resisted, and which may be so conf ditioned as to permit said spring to recoil and perform its function.

I do not in this application claim, broadly, time mechanism arranged to-operate a delinite length of time in combination with a device upon which it is adapted to operate; nor the combination therewith of means for preventing the operator from interfering with the operation of the time mechanism; nor time mechanism having means for arresting its own operation; nor means for preventing the resetting of the time mechanism; nor a spring held normally under tension by a time mechanism whichis adapted to operate a definite length of time, and a device upon which the spring is adapted to act when released; nor means, under the control of the operator, for preventing the operation of the time mechanism while the discharge-opening of the receptacle is closed; nor means including a valve upon which time mechanism1 is adapted to operate; nor a liquid-tight inclosure located within the receptacle and inclosing the automatically-operating parts; nor a valve in combination with means for holding it temporarily unseated, a spring for seating it, and means for preventing access to it for thereafter unseating it; nor the combination of a spring, a device upon which it is adapted to operate, an escapemeiit controlling the spring and arranged to operate a definite length of time, and means for preventing the operator from interfering with the operation of the escapement, all of these things, when combined with the elements that are essentialin a device forpreventing the fraudulent reuse of bottles or similar receptacles, being claimed, broadly, in my application, Serial No. 595,140, already referred to. Nor do I claim, broadly, in this application a valve, a coiled spring adapted, when released, to seat the valve and hold it permanently seated, means for holding said spring compressed endwise, time mechanism adapted to operate a definite length of time for releasing the spring, and means for preventing the unseating of the valve; nor the combination of a valve, a coiled spring adapted when released to seat the valve and hold it permanently seated, means for holding the spring normally compressed endwise, and time mechanism adapted to operate a definite length of time for releasingthe spring,all these things, when combined with the elements that are essential in a device for preventingthe fraudulent reuse of bottles or similar receptacles, being claimed in another application of even date herewith, bearing Serial No. 595,141.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desi-re to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In adevice for preventing the fraudulent reuse of bottles or similar receptacles, the combination With the receptacle,of time mechanism arranged to operate a definite length of time and to be operated by force derived from liquid flowing past it, and a device upon which the time mechanism is adapted to operate, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a device for preventing the fraudulent reuse of bottles or similar receptacles, the combination with the receptacle of time mechanism arranged in the neck of the receptacle and adapted to be operated a definite length of time by force derived from liquid iiowing through the neck of the receptacle in either direction, and a device upon which the time mechanism is adapted to operate, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In a device for preventing the fraudulent reuse of bottles or similar receptacles, the combinationwith the receptacle,of time mechanism having a movable part arranged in the neck of the receptacle and adapted to be moved by force derived from liquid flowing through said neck, a spring held normally under tension by the time mechanism and adapted to be released when the time mechanism has operated a definite length of time,

and a device upon which the springis adapted to operate when released, substantially as and for the purpose described.

et. In a device for preventing the fraudulent reuse of bottles or similar receptacles, the combination with the receptacle, of a valve for closing it, a spring for seating said valve and holding it permanently seated, means for holding said spring under tension, and means adapted to be operated by liquid liowing out of the bottle for releasing the spring, and permitting it to seat the valve, substantially as set forth.

5. In'a device for preventing the fraudulent reuse of bottles or similar receptacles, the combination with the receptacle, ofl a valve for closing it, a spring for seating said valve and holdin g it permanently seated, means for holding said spring under tension and means adapted to be operated by liquid flowing into thebottle for releasing the spring and permitting it to seat the valve, substantially as set forth.

6. In a device for preventing the fraudulent reuse of bottles or similar receptacles, the combination with the receptacle having two .valve-seats, of time mechanism including a float arranged between said valve-seats,an escapement arranged to operate a denite length of time, means for 'transmitting movement from the float to the escapement, and a device upon which the time mechanism is adapted to IOO operate, substantially and for the purpose described.

7. In a device for preveutin g the fraudulent reuse of bottles or similar receptacles, the combination with .the receptacle, of a float arranged in the neck thereof, a sprin g carried thereby, means including,` a diaphragm and a drill engaging the diaphragm for holding the spring normall7 compressed, and means for transmitting to the drill movement derived from the float, substantially as and for the purpose described.

S. In adevice forpreventing the fraudulent reuse of bottles or similar receptacles, the combination with the receptacle, of a float arranged in the neck thereof, a valve at each end of the float, a coiled spring arranged within the float, a follower against which the spring is compressed, a pair of arms having shoulders upon which the follower hears, a diaphragm supported by one of said arms, a shaft having at one end a drill-point engaging,` said diaphragm and at the other cud having a pivotal bearing upon the other arm, a crank-arm projecting' from the shaft, a link pivotally connected at one end to said crankarm, and a stationaljY stem to which the other end of the link is pivotally connected, substantially as and for the purpose described.

JOHN SCHUMACIIER.

Witnesses:

L. M. HOPKINS, N. C. GRIDLEY. 

